Chapter 56: Winter of Jiwei (7)

  Although the winter of the year was cold, the unique geographical conditions of Bái Láng Shān (White Wolf Mountain) kept Li Chengzhong's troops far away from the biting cold. In addition to the surrounding mountains blocking the cold winds from the north, the hot springs behind the military camp also made people feel very comfortable and relaxed. It seems that this was also the reason why the Tang Dynasty established a granary military camp here in those years.

  Without the worry of Khitan invasion, Li Chengzhong immediately began the long-awaited military training.

  Before training, he reorganized the troops in his hands. He currently has a total of 220 soldiers and selected more than 100 young men from the refugees hiding in the mountains to join the army, making his troops reach 350 people. He divided the 300 people into three battalions and six teams, respectively appointing Jiang Miao, Zhang Xingzhong, and Zhou Kandao as battalion commanders, and established a scout team and a logistics team. This organizational method was equivalent to breaking the tradition of empty salaries for team officers and battalion commanders in the Lu Long Army. Others were fine, but Zhang Xingzhong and Zhou Kandao were veteran soldiers in the Lu Long Army, so Li Chengzhong was worried that they might have some ideas, so he had a one-on-one conversation with them.

  The conversation went more smoothly than Li Cheng expected, and all three of them expressed their understanding and support. The reason for this was that the three men were all officers who had risen from the lowest ranks, and their career paths were consistent with Li Cheng's. When they were squad leaders, none of them were qualified to receive a salary, and even after being promoted to team officers in Pingzhou, they still didn't have the opportunity to receive a salary. They had been following Li Cheng into battle since they were recruited, from Yu Pass to White Wolf Mountain, and the salaries that were originally allocated to them were still pending on the account books of the Pingzhou army commander's office. As a result, they hadn't seen any benefits from receiving a salary, so they didn't have much resistance to Li Cheng's persuasion and explanation.

  Li Chengzhong also promised that from now on, in his army, each officer would receive a monthly salary of 10 guan, and each head would receive a monthly salary of 20 guan. In the future, after they had conquered a territory, when it came to distributing land, military officers could choose one hundred to five hundred mu according to their rank... As for the land, that was something for the distant future, but this monthly salary was much higher than what other troops in the Lu Long army received, making up for the loss of not being able to eat "empty rations". Of course, Li Chengzhong had no money now, and he could only make empty promises. The officers could still only receive their regular monthly salary from the Pingzhou army's accounts, but Li Chengzhong called in Feng Dao and solemnly recorded each person's owed salary in the account book, repeatedly guaranteeing that they would definitely be paid once there was money.

  At least everyone is now full of confidence in Li Chengzhong, so they are also full of confidence that he can fulfill his promise, which greatly relieved Li Chengzhong. He was very resistant to the military habit of eating empty salaries, and he was delighted to be able to eliminate this habit in his own troops at this time. As for the debt, just owe it first, anyway, the more fleas, the less itching, the more debts, the less worry, he is already heavily indebted, and a few more are nothing to him.

  His first batch of debtors were the families of soldiers who died in battle and those who made meritorious contributions. The second batch of debtors included: Jiang Miao, Zhou Kan Dao, Zhang Xing Chong, Wang Da Lang, Meng Xu Xing, Jiao Cheng Qiao, Zhong Si Lang, and Zhao Da. Among them, Jiang Miao, Zhang Xing Chong, and Zhou Kan Dao were the inspectors of the three battalions A, B, and C respectively, each leading a battalion of soldiers and concurrently serving as the left team leader of their respective battalions. Zhong Si Lang served as the right team leader of Jiang Miao's battalion A, Meng Xu Xing served as the right team leader of Zhang Xing Chong's battalion B, and Jiao Cheng Qiao served as the right team leader of Zhou Kan Dao's battalion C. Wang Da Lang was appointed as the leader of the scouting team, temporarily consisting of 20 people. Zhao Da was appointed as the leader of the logistics team, also consisting of 20 people, among whom 10 were hunters from the civilian population. Their responsibilities, in addition to logistical matters, also included the heavy responsibility of treating wounded soldiers during wartime.

  Apart from the above, under the insistence of all levels of officers, Li Chengzhong finally selected ten people as bodyguards, with Zhou Xiaolang, who was trained by Zhou Kan Dao, serving as the leader of the bodyguards.

  Zhou Xiaolang, as a fellow townsman and colleague of Zhou Kan Dao, was known for his bravery in battle. He had performed well in several battles and was considered one of the older members who followed Li Chengzhong. Although he had been serving as the leader of the squad since the Yu Guan era, he had not been promoted due to lack of opportunity. This time, he was appointed as Li Chengzhong's personal bodyguard captain, a position that did not change his rank but was considered more prestigious according to military customs at the time. He was overjoyed and repeatedly patted his chest in front of Li Chengzhong, guaranteeing that he would ensure his safety after this. His mannerisms were very similar to Zhou Kan Dao's, as if he were a smaller version of him, which made Li Chengzhong burst out laughing.

  After Zhao Da took over as the logistics team leader, he couldn't even believe it himself. His old habit of lacking confidence relapsed, and he repeatedly asked Li Chengzhong to consider others carefully. The appointments of other officers were all met with enthusiastic support from those involved, but this guy alone repeatedly "disobeyed orders", making Li Chengzhong somewhat impatient. He said sternly: "I'm saying, Old Zhao, is it that you don't believe in yourself or that you don't trust my judgment? You performed very well last time when fighting against the Khitan people! You achieved great merit and promoting you was only natural. Besides, you're skilled at logistics matters, so having you take on this role would be a perfect fit for your strengths!"

  The term "logistics" was invented by Li Chengzhong in this era, and the establishment of a special "logistics team" can also be considered as his pioneering innovation. When he first formed the "logistics team", it was not understood by everyone, and military officers proposed to change the name to "heavy load team", "food and grass team", etc., but none of them could match the responsibilities and tasks assigned by Li Chengzhong to this unit.

  The battle is fought in the rear, and the connotation and extension of logistics are very broad, not only including the transportation of grain and grass, but also clothing, food, military equipment and other aspects. After careful consideration, it really can only be expressed by the term "logistics" from later generations, so even if these officers do not understand, he still insists on using this title. For the persistence of the first-in-command, everyone can only obey and execute, so the original "Logistics Partner" and now "Logistics Team" appeared in this era.

  Of course, everyone has heard this title for a long time and has gradually become accustomed to it, so they understand it literally. This understanding comes from Feng Dao's thinking. He believes that the two words "Houqin" are not wrong at all. The word "Hou" means behind the battlefield, behind the soldiers; the word "Qin" means "labor". In the Book of Poetry, Zhou Song, it is said that King Wen was diligent in his work. In the Liji, Yumao, it is also said that diligence refers to taking care of trivial matters. To say that Li Yu's two words "Houqin" are quite appropriate.

  Even Feng Dao, a scholar, praised the word for being well-used, and the military officers gradually came to feel that it was indeed good, so they started using it from then on.

  Having received a stern lecture with good intentions, Zhao Da left with a bitter face. He could only force himself to take charge of the twenty people assigned to him. Originally, he was in charge of ten people and found it somewhat difficult. Now that there were ten more people, he felt even more overwhelmed.

  Jiang Miao, Zhang Xingzhong and Zhou Zhandao had already been appointed as inspectors of the imperial guards when they left Yu Guan, but due to insufficient troops, they were actually performing the duties of a team officer. Now that they have finally achieved their goal, they are all feeling genuinely delighted. Whoever has twice as many soldiers under his command would feel joyful from the heart. The slight disappointment about not being able to receive full pay also dissipated. Having more soldiers under him than when he was receiving full pay, it actually feels pretty good.

  In the battle of defending the White Wolf Mountain barracks, a large number of knives, guns, bows and arrows were captured, so that Li Chengzhong's new soldiers did not have to worry about having no weapons. Li Chengzhong carefully examined these captured Khitan weapons and found that their quality was quite good, almost comparable to those made by the Pingzhou Governor's Office.

  Zhang Laojiang carefully examined the blades seized from the Khitan people and couldn't help but sigh: "They have already reached the level of fifty folds, while our best craftsmen in Pingzhou can only manage seventy-two folds."

  Li Chengzhong was shocked and asked: "Are the Khitan people's skills in making weapons so fierce?"

  Zhang Laojiang shook his head and then nodded, saying: "Originally there wasn't any, but judging from this batch of soldiers, they are indeed not bad."

  Li Chengzhong was a bit worried and thought with a lucky psychology: "Will it be the goods we sold to Zhongyuan in the past?"

  Zhang Laojiang said, "It's not necessarily so. Our Central Plains have always been forging horizontal knives, but the captured knives are somewhat curved and are commonly used by the Khitan people outside the pass. According to my thinking, it must be that in recent years the Khitan people kidnapped some of our Han craftsmen, so they can forge such good knives."

  Being able to forge excellent blades means that the Khitan people have made a comprehensive improvement in mining, smelting and casting techniques. This improvement may not be noticed by others, but Li Chengzhong comes from a later generation and deeply understands the significance it contains, so he is very worried about it. However, at this moment, he is powerless to do anything about these things, and can only temporarily put them aside, putting his mind back on training soldiers.

  As for the idea of training soldiers, Li Chengzhong had already thought about it since he followed Zhou Zhiyuan to Pingzhou. When he was appointed as the team leader, he tried hard to recall the daily training methods of his original unit and combined them with what he saw and heard during the war, finally piecing together a training outline.

  However, due to the subsequent Yu Guan defense war and Bai Lu Shan defense war, he had not started training soldiers, but continued to perfect this training outline in his mind during his spare time. Now that he finally had the time, he planned to verify it well in this winter, even if it didn't reach the effect he imagined, at least his troops should have a preliminary shape. After winter, he also planned to try and collide with the Khitan people in a field battle once. A military force that is not capable of defeating its opponents in a field battle will never be able to take the initiative, and Li Chengzhong was very insistent on this point.

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